1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to cordless telephones and, more particularly, to a cordless telephone system having an automatic telephone answering machine function.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It has been known to combine a cordless telephone with a telephone answering machine (hereinafter simply referred to as a TAM) thereby providing a cordless telephone system having an automatic response telephone function or an automatic answering telephone function, such as represented by systems shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B. The system of FIG. 1A is comprised of handset units 1A-1C (remote stations), a base unit 2 (master station) and a telephone line network 3 (outside line). Handset units 1A, 1B and 1C are the same as those of an ordinary cordless telephone while base unit 2 has a TAM function. This base unit houses a tape recorder to reproduce an outgoing message (hereinafter referred to as an answering message), which is played back to a calling party when an incoming call is received, and to record an incoming message (hereinafter referred to as a business message) spoken by the calling party.
In the system shown in FIG. 1B, the handset units 1A, 1B and the base unit 2 are the same as those of an ordinary cordless telephone while the handset unit 1C has the TAM function. Accordingly, the handset unit 1C houses a tape recorder for recording and reproducing an answering message and a business message.
In the above-mentioned conventional cordless telephone systems shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, in order to hear the recorded business message, the user must be located physically at the base unit 2 or at the handset unit 1C having the TAM function and push an operation button thereof (such as a START button). This detracts from many of the advantages of a cordless telephone.